Tobacco-manipulating machines



July 6, 1965 R. LAHORE foAccc-wrrumi'ma lmclumas` original Filed Deo. 16. 1957 5..` Shouts-Shut l l Mem July 6, 1965 R. LANoRE TOBACCO-MANIPULATING MACHINES I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Dec. 16. 1957 July 6, 1965 R. LANoRE ToAccouANIPUmTING MACHINES Original Filed Dec. 16.- 195'? 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 /A/VgA/me @im United States Patent O 3,192,931 TBACCO-MANPULATING MACHINES Raymond Lahore, Paris, France, assigner to Usines Deconiie S.A., Paris, France, a French company Original application Dec. 16, 1957, Ser. No. 702,905, now Patent No.` 3,032,041, dated May 1, 1962. Divided and this application Nov. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 155,149 Claims priority, application France, Jan. 10, 1957, 729,217 1 Claim. (Cl. 131-61) This application lis a division of my co-pending .application Serial No. 702,905, tiled December 16, 1957, now -Patent 'No 3,032,041, granted May l, 1962, which claims :an appara-tus by which the method of the instant application may be practiced.

This invention relates t-o an improved method of forming a tobacco iller, for example in a continuous rod cigarette-making machine. v

It is sometimes desired to vform a tobacco dille-r in which the tobacco is denser at parts where it is to be cut than at other parts along its length, in order that the tobacco articles formed by cutting lthe filler may be more densely illed with tobacco at their end portions than at other parts. It is usual to form a tob-acco ller from a relatively loose stream of tobacco, sometimes called a tobacco rod, which -is compressed laterally so as to give it a reduced and uniform cross-sectional size. Thus if there is more tobacco at some parts of the stream than at others, the compressed .iiller will have corresponding parts of greater and less density, and accordingly, one known way of forming .such .a filler is to add increments of tobacco at suitable intervals along the stream.

The present invention provides a method of producing a tobacco ller in which the tobacco is denser at parts where it is to be cut than at other parts along its length, -Which method comprises forming a tobacco stream which contains an excess of tobacco, and trimming the stream by removing tobacco bodily therefrom while leaving a greater quantity of tobacco per unit length at regularly spaced positions along the stream .and a smaller quantity per unit length between the said posi-tions. The trimming of the stream may be effected in such a way as to reduce the :stream to a smaller cross-sectional size between the said positions than :at the said positions, the tobacco at the said positions being then made denser than the tobacco between the said positions by subsequently laterally compressing the trimmed stream -to a uniform cross-section.

The method laccording to the invention may be practiced with the laid of apparatus for forming a continuous tobacco -iller in a cigarette-making machine, and one such apparatus will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic longitudinal section showing the upper or feed portion of a cigaret-te-making machine in which a tobacco iiller is formed;

FIGURE 2 is la longitudinal section showing diagrammatically, on a larger scale, a stream of tobacco as originally formed :in the machine shown in FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is a plan View of a trimming device and includes guide means shown in section, for trimmed tobacco, and

FIGURE 4 is .a vertical section taken upon the line lV-IV, of FIGURE 3, the guide means being omitted.

Referring to FIGURE l, tobacco is fed by a distributor 1 onto an endless belt conveyor 2 between the transverse walls 3, 4 of a discharge hopper. The stream of tobacco travels on the band 2 toward the cigarette-rod-forming mechanism.

The stream of tobacco as formed on the conveyor 2 is uneven in height, being characterized by alternating "ice troughs and crests, and its longitudinal section is shown dfiagrammatically in FIGUREZ, inwhich the unevenness of its height is considerably exaggerated,

The stream of tobacco contains more tobacco than required for making cigarettes having .a desired average weight, and the excess tobacco is trimmed at the locati-on .indicated by the reference numeral 5. This trimming step consists in separating and moving away from the stream any tobacco above the level h (FIGURE 2), in those portions of the stream where it is desired to have a normal density of the filler, and above the level hl in the por-tions where a greater tobacco density is desired. These last-mentioned portions are normally spaced from one another by a distance] (FIGURE 2) equal to the length of one cigarette, so that in each cigarette the tobacco may be denser Iat one or both ends, depending on the loca-tion of the cut where each cigarette leaves the rod from which it was formed. However, if it is desired to increase the :density of the tobacco at only one end of the cigarette, the thicker portionsVm-ay be spaced apart by Ia distance equal to two cigarette lengths.

As a rule, the high-density portion-s have a density 10% higher than the normal density of the other portions of the roll. The length of 4these thicker portions is usually about 3ds".

In the embodiment described herein, the height h is Iabout 2%1 and there-fore the height hl is |about or nearly 74". t

The stream of tobacco is carried along by the travelling band I2 moving in a horizontal channel 6, FIGURES 3 and 4, and having its edges 7 guided and held by side plates 8. The initial portion of this channel is tapered to compress the tobacco therein, and the next portion has its edges parallel and spaced about FAG .apart in the trimming zone. The trimming device for separating and discharging the excess tobacco comprises two horizontal rotary discs 9, having chamfered edges, and rotating in opposite directions as shown by the arrows in FIGURE 3. The linear velocity of the outer edges of these discs is about 15% greater than the linear velocity of the stream of tobacco. These outer edges, although shown in the drawings as apparently in contact, are separated at their nearest points by a gap which may be between .004 and .008. A cylindrical rotary brush y10, about M1 thick,

overlies the discs 9 and is mounted at one end of a shaft -111 rotatably driven at high speed and set at an angle with respect to the direction of ow of the tobacco, as shown. This brush is positioned in the zone where the discs are nearest to each other and brushes :against the upper surfaces ofthe discs at that zone, .thereby engaging .and removing surplus tobacco which is above the discs and completing the separation of that tobacco from the tobacco beneath the discs, The tobacco thus removed is driven by the brush 10 between the walls 12 and 13- which guide it onto a travelling band (not shown) by which the excess tobacco is returned to the distributor.

The discs 9 rotate once for every fou-r cigarettes produced. The outer peripheral parts of the discs are not uniformly level but are formed with four raised portions 14, whose under-surfaces are recessed as shown in FIG- URE 4. They are spaced Vapart and have raised edges situated .08 above the level of the remaining portions of the discs therebetween. The two discs are so disposed that :as they rotate, successive pairs of raised portions 14 register ywith one another as shown in FIGURE 3. These raised portions are bounded by straight edges 19 set at suitable tangles relative to radii terminating at the outer peripheral edges of the disc. These angles are suitably chosen so that when two raised or recessed portions 14 register with each other, their leading edges are momentarily in line with each other as shown in FIGURE 3.

The raised or recessed portions 14 thus pass over the stream of tobacco at intervals each corresponding to one cigarette-length. Moreover, when two portions 14 register with each other on the line IV-IV of FIGUR-E 3 they are directed as shown with their leading edges substantially parallel to the plane of the rotary brush 10. Since the 'discs 9, with their recessed portions 14,60- operate to determine the depth to which the stream is trimmedgand since the edges of the portions 14 are at a greater distance from the lower part of the band 2 than are the edges of the other parts of the discs, it will be yseen that the recessed portions 14 allow the stream to retain a greater depth of tobacco than do the remaining par-ts of .thepdiscs Y This brush 10 is :so adjusted as to be substantially ush with the lower portions of the upper faces of the discs 9. When the raised portions 14 move beneath the brush 16, the bristles of the brush are slightly bent, see FIGURE 4, and `the excess tobacco lis removed from these raised portions without difculty.

Thus the stream of tobacco in its subsequent travel on the band 2 has, at desired spaced intervals, portions containing a greater quantity of tobacco than the remaining zones located therebetween.

This stream of tobacco is subsequently caused to pass under a Wheel 15 which compresses it laterally and forms a tobacco ller of uniform cross-sectional size in which the tobacco at the said desired portions is denser than at others.

This stream `is -then delivered onto a paper web 16 passing over a small roller 17 onto an endless band 18 by `which the paper web supporting the filler of tobacco is carried along through the actual rod-forming mechanism. The cigarette rod so formed is then separated into individual cigarettes by cutting through or adjacent to the denser portions, as desired Whatl claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In the manufacture of cigarettes having denser tobacco portions at their ends than elsewhere, a method of producing a continuous wrapped cigarette rod in which the `tobacco is denserat zones where the cigarette rod is to be cut than at other parts along its length, and of producing the said cigarettes from the :said rod, which method comprises conveying an elongated tobacco ller stream which contains, substantially along its whole length, an

' excess of tobacco over that required for said cigarette rod, trimming the filler stream so as to remove therefrom in continuous alternation (1) less than the Whole of said excess tobacco and (2) the whole of said excess tobacco, thereby leaving unremoved from the filler stream more residual tobacco per unit length of the ller stream at regularly spaced positions along the ller stream, and less residual tobacco per unit length of the filler stream between the said positions, theV said positions correspond- :ing to the said zones where the cigarette rod is to be cut, enclosing the trimmed ller stream, containing more to-V bacco at the said positions than therebetween, in a continuous wrapper to form the continuous cigarette rod, and cutting the Wrapped cigarette rod at the said Zones.

steferencesA Sited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,721,117 7/29 Hopkins 131-61 XR 1,968,018 7/34 Arelt 131-61 XR 2,660,177 11/53 :Rault 131-84 ABRAHAM G. STONE, Primary Examiner.

JOSEPH S. REICH, Examiner. 

